Patch 1 tick!!!

The safari’s late night venture around Patch 1 was rewarded with the sounds of a skein of Pink Footed Geese going over followed a few minutes later by a flock of Golden Plovers calling overhead. Patch tick…totally unexpected - nice one!
Then, round the corner we had a nose to nose encounter with the Fox. One of the neighbours leaves a tray of food out for him, and/or the local cats, and there he was hiding in the bushes not five feet away probably waiting until we had passed so he could venture out to the tray. We stopped and we had a good look at each other until Frank made a lunge then he was off like a shot. Saw it, or another, on Patch 1 again this morning in the pre-dawn darkness.
Patch 2 also provided a pleasant surprise before work. The beach was relatively empty but six Ringed Plovers were new in and making the most of any goodies along one of the strandlines.
Lunchtime saw some Common Scoters close in behind the surf. So we grabbed the camera and headed off across the sand. The results weren’t brilliant in the gloomy gloom.

Further down the beach were some Oystercatchers mooching about, some bathing, some feeding and some having a well earned rest. We snuck up on them using the old storm water pipe as a bit of cover. Again the results aren’t brilliant but it was hardly daylight out there this arvo.

Guess what…I flushed them. One of them must have found an extra tasty Mussel as you can see it being carried off. Obviously it didn’t want to lose it.
Where to next? Anywhere with some daylight will do.
In the meantime let us know what’s ‘a roamin in the gloamin’ in your outback.

I tort I saw a dicky bird

The safari deedn’t, deedn’t, deedn’t see a dicky bird!
Where have all the birds gone? – Scarpered from the frost or drowned in the torrential rain earlier in the week.
Back on Patch 1 with the warming reds of early morning lightening the eastern sky but did nothing for my toes as we walked through the frozen grass.It was as quiet as a grave yard. Hardly any Robins or Wrens heard, Blackbirds were well down not getting to double figures a solitary Redwing left its overnight roost and the tits hadn’t woken up yet. Last night’s Fox was nowhere to be seen and last week’s Peregrine hasn’t reappeared.
If anything Patch 2 was worse! The sea was devoid of life! Nothing out there at all this morning. A tiny speck of white turned out to be nothing more exciting than a Herring Gull. On the beach all we could muster was a single Redshank in with the 25 – 30 Oystercatchers, didn’t count them with any conviction. A quick scan through the gulls revealed a lone Common Gull among the small numbers of Herrings and Black Heads out on the waters edge following the tide down the beach.
Very quiet indeedy. By lunchtime the tide will be back on the rise and things might have improved.

Mid morning we got a call from the Rangers, Bittern seen and three Cetti's Warblers within a few yards of each other. Then later on another call - at least 4 Cetti's now recorded and possibly as many as 6! Now that's what I call unprecedented.

Lunchtime on Patch 2 never materialised - too much to do!
Where to next? If only we could squeeze some time out of the office to get down to the reserve for a coordinated Cetti's check.
In the meantime let us know what's totally unprecedented in your outback.

Sorry no pics, again, today.

Results

The safari was in the club having a pre match beer with great expectation of a good result. Banter was focussing on wether or not the new stand would eb ready in time for the local derby at the end of the month. Probably not but the ground is looking good now the South Stand is almost ready to be filled by passionate supporters.

The new Armfield stand is named after the legendary Jimmy Armfield

The players take the field

The first half was a waste of time with too much possession and teritory given to the opposition who were giving a good account odf themsrelves. If, and footy is full of ifs, our 90th second strike had gone in rather than stoat off the cross-bar then the game might have been a very different one.

Scunthorpe came out with vigour in the second half perhaps sensing an upset. They scored...aaarrrgggghhhhh. But an equaliser came before too long. Note how the light had gone in about an hour.

A reactive, superb save by their keeper was out of the area and he was duly sent off. Then the rout started...4 - 1 final score...Excellent stuff...keep it up boys, soon as you get to 50 points as soon as you can and then enjoy the rest of the season.

After the match straight uop the motorway to my mates' new place. Nice gaff. Following morning we set off for a leisurly stroll through the woods and came across the Fairy Steps. A rather narrow fissure in the rock face which in times gone by was the route of the coffin trails from nearby villages to the churrchyard - I'm sure they could have found an easier way down or up we did and it wasn't far. Don't fancy squeezing through here carring a coffin.

That's wifey peering round the corner at the bottom. We had to send Frank down - he tried to barge past me and nearly came a right cropper on the slippery rock.
View from the top is worth the squeeze. You can see the top of the 'steps' on the right of the picture and in the middle of the pic is the Armnside viadduct a quality piece of Victorian engineering

The woods were picturesque but mostly empty of animal life. Wifey picked up 4 Roe Deer in a field but too far away and skittish to get a shot off. A Buzzard just cleared the treetops and a Raven honked in the distance.

We only came across a couple of winter tit flocks. Marsh Tit(s) were present in the final flock of the day.

Frank was on a roll, in his element out sniffing in the wilds. A Jay launched a considerable verbal attack on him.

Not much exciting in the vegetation line but lots of Hazel catkins were out. Despite the very wet weatehr and recent mild spells we didn't find any fungi which is rather strange considering the excellent woodland habitat.Back on the outskirts of the village we came across this huge Oak tree. Couldn't get to it for a close inspection but a reasonable guess we be about 36 feet around, maybe more like 40...a veritable, venerable tree.

By now our friends will have assembled their feeder gift and tomorrow it should be full of visitors and hopefully they'll get hooked. In the few minutes we spent looking out of their windows we saw a great variety of birds viz. Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Fieldfare, Blackbird, Redwing, Robin, Jackdaw, Starling - but no House Sparrows, although we did hear some in another part of the village. That little lot should keep em busy for a while. In the meantime I'm expecting dodgy pictures taken through dirty windows on a phone camera being emailed for me to identify...can't wait.

Where to next? Patch 1 and Patch 2 beckon...almost been missing them.

In the meantime let us know what you've been seeing in your mates' outback.

Will it ever stop raining?

Can't beat a bit of Saw Doctors.

Well will it?

Nothing on Patch 1 this morning - the grand total of 7 Blackbirds and a Wren, not a single Robin neither seen nor heard?!?...poor. A minimum, of 43 Magpies left their roost in Magpie Wood.

Back at Base Camp we watched a rare spectacle of 4 YES 4 Blue Tits at the feeder...an unprecedented number. Half a dozen each of Greenfinches and Goldfinches soon saw them off.

'Grandkids' are gone now - jeez its quiet!!!!!

Off to the footy...well pub first!

Frankie likes a pint too.

Meaningless drivel

Was going to continue the musical theme for the title of the post with something like Fog on the Tyne, cos out on Patch 1 this morning (nothing to report from there again) the air hung heavy with the smog of last night’s Guy Fawkes ‘celebrations’, but as we’re exactly half way between the Ribble and the Wyre it didn’t really seem appropriate to pick one over the other. For some reason I get a tad annoyed at the local chavs for spending copious amounts of their benefits i.e. my taxes on huge amounts of enormous fireworks – I don’t care if you said ‘snob’, there’s got to be more important stuff for them to spend my hard earned on.
After the thrills of Peregrine and Woodcock the other day and the prospect of a half-day off in which to go safari-ing things went steadily downhill with increasing momentum.
Murphy’s Law was in evidence at Base Camp yesterday with nothing in particular to report from Patch 1, no sign of the Peregrine on the water tower early doors. So we waited for the Cavity Wall Insulation men to arrive; which they did – on time… excellent stuff, two hours work and they’d be finished then a couple of chores, a bite to eat and out on safari…first choice was going to be Marton Mere to see if we could get a pic of the Bittern. Best laid plans and all that…the insulation guys discovered that one of their colleagues had ‘borrowed’ the drill from their truck so they had to go back to the yard to get a replacement through the rush hour traffic. When they reappeared holes were drilled but as they fired up the compressor it blew all the fuses in the house, tried it again…same result…things are not looking good…so we tried plugging it in a different socket…no fuse this time just a big flash and a bang from the compressor itself...kaput…send back to the yard for someone to bring out a replacement…doh…finally finished at 1.30; a two hour job had turned in to a 5 ½ hour job, and still chores to do…not looking good for a safari. So we had a bite to eat and put the telly on for the news…guess what…no telly…we had our digital switch over yesterday so I did the re-boot thing…nothing…so tried again…nothing…phoned the TV company…a ¾ hour phone call later (good job that was free!) to discover our account has been stopped, just like the broadband last week…and the company couldn’t explain how or why it has happened…no telly until Monday!!! That means no Autumnwatch tonight. Couldn’t watch it anyway cos we’ve got the ‘grandkids’ coming to stay, meeting baby Poppy Grace for the first time…all say aahhhhhh.
Back to the wildlife - out on Patch 1 last night the poor Fox was having a torrid time running this way and that being scared witless by all the fizz bags, screamers, rockets etc. He was there again this morning and I didn’t spot him until I saw Frank hurtling down the hill at about 200mph towards him and he legging it in to the shrubbery just in the nick of time. Poor thing, hope this weekend is quieter for him…the Fox not Frank.
Got my second visit of the season to the footy tomorrow as part of the Tangerine Army, will have a look at how the new stadium is coming along – will it be open in time for the Big Match at the end of the month? Already got my ticket for that one. After last week’s late equaliser by Doncaster Rovers two points were thrown away so hoping for a good win against Scunthorpe! By my reckoning the team have squandered six points by conceding last minute goals so far this season, six points that would have them joint first (second on goal difference)…’doh’ again.
Then it’s a big sleepover trip to our mates’ new house in the woods…hopefully some good safari pics from that. It’s in an area we don’t know too well but has heaps of potential...looking forward to it big style. Got them a crackin house warming gift, they like the countryside but they’re not birders – they will be once they set up the super feeders we’re giving them complete with every imaginable type of seed, field guides, little bins etc etc.
The briefest of murky visits to Patch 2 this morning revealed a really good count of 31 Sanderlings scampering along the waterline and very little else, the beach was even almost devoid of gulls. Without checking my notes I’d hazard a guess that that is my record count for this stretch of beach. High tide at lunchtime…fingers crossed for a sea mammal or two gentle offshore breeze and overcast skies make viewing conditions ideal. Lunchtime was a cold, wet washout! Not standing round in the freezing drizzle looking at a hundred or so Common Scoters riding the white horses for long…brrr. Not so keen on winter at the moment…got a trip to Florida planned for next spring…that’ll be warmer…never been State-side before…should be good. About 2/3 the way up the west side of the droppy down bit.
Where to next? Footy, mates’ new house…might even get some wildlife snaps for you, they might be out of focus if copious amounts of quality ale are swigged – they usually are.
In the meantime let us know which sub-section of Murphy’s Law has been prominent in your outback recently.

What all that had to do with the price of fish I have now idea - like I said at the top what a load of end-of-the-week-nothing-much-to-say drivel!!! and no photos either - sorry.

Dancing in the moonlight

Can’t beat a bit of Thin Lizzy!
But it was more like ‘trudging in the moonlight’ as the safari staggered the hill towards Patch 1 hunched against the rain. At least there was a bit of light from the moon as the clouds broke between downpours and in the gardens a couple of Robins twittered their melancholy winter song as we passed.
On the Patch nothing much was doing at all, somewhat disappointing as the moonlight made visibility OK. An almost total lack of Blackbirds and only a handful of Robins were heard. Better things were to come as Mr. Snuffly-nose crashed through the bushes after a scent of who-knows-what; almost immediately a Woodcock exploded out from beneath them and flew low but fast along the track in front of us. Nice one Frank, not that we should let him charge through the habitat flushing things willy-nilly, even if he was on your lead.
On the walk back we noticed a falcon sat on the ledge on the water tower. In the gloom it was a bit difficult to see exactly what it was especially after the late night Kestrel the other day. Getting closer it was obvious that it was too big and broad shouldered to be a Kestrel so a Peregrine it was. Unfortunately we didn’t have a look up there on last night’s late constitutional so don’t know if it roosted or bunked in during one of the torrential downpours that were rattling on the windows as it travelled by to wherever by moonlight.
Back at Base Camp we grabbed the camera and leaned out of the bedroom window for a shot.

Not brilliant – can you actually tell those few pixels behind the twigs are a bird, never mind a Peregrine? A better angle was had from the bathroom window. Not sure what the neighbours would think if they saw an arm holding a camera sticking out of the window adjacent to theirs!

As we drove to work it was still sat up there, master of all it surveyed, so naturally we stopped for some better shots.

After a couple of minutes it got bored of watching me taking its picture and did one, which was very nearly missed!

Still not brilliant pics but what do you expect at 07.40 on a gloomy November morning, surely not something that's gonna feature on Birdguides 'Photo of the month' page.
Out on Patch 2 there were squalls coming in every few minutes. A quick dodge between them revealed plenty of Scoters on the wing, with singles and small flocks going every which way, but still no sign of the odd one out. We stuck it out ‘til the next squall landed but to no avail. The multitude of Kittiwakes, Little Gulls, Great Northern Divers, Arctic Stukas etc that are being picked up at other watch points along the coast in the region don’t seem to be passing this part of the of coast. Maybe we need a few prayers to Neptune, or Rhiannon, the Welsh God of birds, (we can see the Welsh coast from patch 2 - on a clear day at least). A flock of around 100 Dunlin flew past and a good count of exactly 90 Oystercatchers were dodging the rising tide on our stretch of beach with a good few sat together a bit out of range for a proper count further to the south.
Lunchtime might be more interesting…we’re getting the feeling we’re like Reeves and Mortimer’s Otis and Marvin characters when we’re stood on the sea wall watching the Scoters goin’ out and the Scoters comin’ back in again…that’s enough musical connotations for one day…It WAS more interesting if only that it was the top of the tide and finding somewhere out of the worst of the spray was difficult. A Guillemot sat 100 yards offshore behind the biggest of the breakers and was joined by another. How do they find each other in a boiling melee like that? Skimming the waves is hardly flying at spotter-plane altitude. A Skua careened (what a lovely word – surprisingly spellchecker recognises it – but not Skua - go on ‘puter get your wobbly red line out; Skua - there I typed it again!) across the face of an incoming squall. It covered some considerable distance in the troughs and only showed above the waves for a blink at a time but I’m fairly confident it was an Arctic Skua (added to dictionary now, sick of those wobbly lines!). Certainly not chunky enough for a Great. The only distant gull was a big and muscly Great Black Backed not a preferred/wanted/rarer delicate Little Gull or Kittiwake. Better but not brilliant…I'll be well miffed if some lucky devil picks up a late Leach’s Petrel this arvo.
Where to next? Back to the sea wall to see if this 'improvement' continues I guess...or it might be somewhere else..1/2 a day off tomorrow for home improvements - see what the weather is doing.
In the meantime let us know if there have been improvements in your outback.

Back in the Black

Can't beat a bit of (almost) AC/DC!

We got to Patch 1 just as the first glimmer of light was dawning after a breezy drizzly night. The pleasant waft of cooking chocolate from the nearby biscuit factory was hanging in the air, that means a southerly wind – a better direction than yesterday’s westerly hooley. The birds had improved too with 24 Blackbirds, 14 Robins, 5 Wrens but zero Dunnocks (still too dark for them to have woken up I guess) no Redwings either, counted today.
No chance of a shuffy over patch 2 this morning – beyond-torrential rain and a few flickers of lightening close overhead so the safari gave it a miss. Didn’t fancy sitting at my desk dripping like a soggy rag for the rest of the morning. Lunchtime visit may be better…it wasn’t! Disappointing as not far away up the coast there was some decent stuff about.
Where to next? Still hoping for somewher a bit drier.

In the meantime let us know what's getting struck by lightening in your outback.

Sorry - no pic again today - must try harder!